Data Exchange Through XML

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Data Exchange Through XML

• IPMA Forum 2003
• May 21, 2003
• St Martins College
• Lacey, Washington
• Presentation by
• Guy Outred Windsor Solutions, Inc.
• Louis Sweeney Ross and Associates
• Tom Clarke Office of Administration of the
  Courts

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Data Exchange Thru XML

• Guy Outred Windsor Solutions
• Challenges and History of Data Exchange
• What is XML? How will it improve exchange?
• Louis Sweeney Ross Associates
• The National Environmental Information Exchange
  Network (NEIEN)
• Tom Clarke Office of Administration of the
  Courts
• Justice Information Network (JIN)

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Data Exchange Thru XML

• From a government perspective
• Challenges and History of Data Exchange
• What is XML?
• How will it improve data exchange?

www.windsorsolutions.com
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Data Exchange Thru XML

• From a government perspective
• Challenges and History of Data Exchange
• What is XML?
• How will it improve data exchange?

www.windsorsolutions.com
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Processes Span Many Organizations
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G2G Examples

• Environmental data
• Judicial data
• Procurement data
• Financial data
• Business and tax information (e.g., UBI)
• Demographics / GIS data
• Federal agency inter-change

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B2G Examples

• Tax returns
• Environmental reporting
• Productivity information
• Financial reporting
• Real estate history

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5 Steps for Data Exchange

1. Define and agree what data to exchange
2. Specify the agreed definition to ensure quality
   of exchange i.e., Data Structure Data Rules
3. Develop an extraction and transformation process
   to procure the data
4. Develop a transformation (and loading) process to
   use the data
5. Develop a repeatable process to facilitate
   exchange

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History of Data Exchange Technologies

• 1975
• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
• First standard way to communicate over a network
• Complex and costly, only major implementations
• 80s and 90s
• Universal conduits attempted
• CORBA, DCOM, Unix RPC, Java Remote Method
  Invocation
• Inadequate momentum gained

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Historical Lesson Learned

• Standards and their Adoption is a two way street.

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Web to the Rescue

• A low level transport standard was born
• The web has been adopted using TCP/IP and HTTP
• Has become a universal business standard
• Messaging and data encapsulation missing
• Feb 1998 draft XML 1.0 by W3C
• Provided the platform-independent data
  description
• Dec 1999 SOAP revealed
• Provided a protocol to process data exchange
• Fall 2000 WSDL announced
• Standard to invoke and service web data exchange
• Cross-vendor support unprecedented

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What about flat files?

• The cheap (non-EDI) way to share data
• Flat files provide the data Structure
• The Rules can be captured by
• A specification document of the rules
• A parser application used after receipt
• A parser application for use during file
  generation
• Simple, technology independent, but messy

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Data Exchange Thru XML

• From a government perspective
• Challenges and History of Data Exchange
• What is XML?
• How will it improve data exchange?

www.windsorsolutions.com
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XML in a Nutshell
XML supports Step 2 Specify the agreed
definition to ensure quality exchange
Reusable Good Information Structure Rules
Data
An XML Schema defines the Structure and the
Rules An XML Document contains the Data (and
references the Schema) Create an XML document,
open it with IE and it validates itself
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Underlying Technologies XML Is the Glue
XML
HTML
TCP/IP
Technology
Connecting Applications
Connectivity
Presentation
FTP, E-mail
Innovation
Web Pages
Connect the Web
Web Services
Browse the Web
Program the Web
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XML Overview

• eXtensible Markup Language
• XML is designed to represent and transfer
  structured data
• In HTML ltpgtJan 15, 2000 lt/pgt
• In XML ltOrderDategtJan 15, 2000lt/OrderDategt
• XML does not display or transform data

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XML OverviewXML Syntax

• XML is composed of tags and attributes
• Tags can be nested
• Representing entities, entity properties, and
  entity hierarchy

ltROOTgt ltOrders OrderID"10643" CustomerID"ALFKI"
EmployeeID"6" OrderDate"1997-08-25T000000"
RequiredDate"1997-09-22T000000"
ShippedDate"1997-09-02T000000" /gtlt/ROOTgt
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XML Schemas

• XML schemas describe the structure of an XML
  document
• XML schemas describe the tag and attribute
  specifications
• XML schemas also describe constraints
• Schemas can reference other schema (inheritance)
• Encourages reuse of data definitions
• Enables cross-fertilization of data exchange

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Step 5 Develop a repeatable process to
facilitate exchange
Publish Find Services UDDI
Formal Service Descriptions WSDL
Service Interactions SOAP
Universal Data Format XML
Ubiquitous Communications Internet
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SOAP

• SOAP is the protocol used by Web Consumers for
  sending requests and receiving responses
• It enables cross-platform interoperability
• OS, object model, programming language neutral
• Hardware independent
• Protocol independent
• Works over existing Internet infrastructure

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SOAPMessage Structure
The complete SOAP message
SOAP Message
Headers
Protocol binding headers
ltEnvelopegt encloses payload
SOAP Envelope
ltHeadergt encloses headers
SOAP Header
Individual headers
Headers
ltBodygt contains SOAP message name
SOAP Body
Message Name Data
XML-encoded SOAP message name data
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Data Exchange Thru XML

• From a government perspective
• Challenges and History of Data Exchange
• What is XML?
• How will it improve data exchange?

www.windsorsolutions.com
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Example Washingtons TurboWaste

• Regulatory reporting of hazardous waste
  activities
• Old way
• Dept of Ecology provided flat file capability in
  1995
• Software distributed to validate data with rules
• New way
• XML Schema provided to reporters, web submission
  ability
• Structure Rules encapsulated
• The Future
• States to exchange monthly data exchange to
  identify missing trans-state hazardous waste
• Faster, better quality data interchange

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XML is not a silver bullet

• Agreement on the definition of data is still the
  same old challenge
• Standards are still maturing
• Infrastructure for XML exchange is non-trivial
• It takes two to tango
• And government agencies prefer to rumba
• Adoption amongst constituents will take time